Mr. Sakaguchi from our company attended an international conference in Austria on tunnel safety and ventilation. The trip is from April 14 to April 24, 2024.
The route was Itami → Haneda → Frankfurt → Graz.
The flight from Haneda to Frankfurt was on a jumbo jet. It seems that Lufthansa uses several of them.
The flight was mostly smooth and comfortable with little turbulence, but the TV screen was small and the touchscreen didn’t respond well, so I gave up on using it halfway through.The flight from Frankfurt to Graz was with a local airline.
The next day, I attended the international conference.
The days leading up to the conference had been warm, but that day turned out to be rainy and quite cold.
Here’s a photo from the international conference, featuring the Sohatsu booth. The moderator for our joint paper presentation session with Hanshin Expressway Co., Ltd. was the person who awarded us the Best Paper Prize at the BHR conference in 2009. They introduced the session as a follow-up to that paper.
This time, we set up a booth at the Graz International Conference for the first time and exchanged ideas with tunnel experts from various countries.
There are a lot of participants (Approximately 200 people). I met Mr. Alan and his wife.
I also attended the traditional tunnel tour at the Graz conference. There was a monument dedicated to the shield machines used for boring railway and road tunnels.
Most of the dishes were meat dishes.
here were various types, including pork, but this time I had calf meat (Veal Schnitzel).
It was delicious.
During a short free time, I visited Schloss Eggenberg Palace in Graz, Austria’s second-largest city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, and I was surprised to see a picture of Osaka Castle displayed there!
It seems like they are sister castles. Castles are forming international friendships, which makes me very happy.
Schloss Eggenberg Palace was very beautiful. There were gorgeous peacocks roaming freely!
After attending the international conference in Austria, I went to Munich, Germany for another assignment. The New Town Hall at Marie Platz is also a grand and beautiful piece of architecture.
This is the Munich subway.
The train is a vibrant red and looks really cool. There are various lines, and it’s also convenient for getting to the airport.
On the way to visit a small tunnel in Germany, equipped with full ventilation and SCADA systems, I stopped by the town of Freising in the outskirts of Munich. Despite the cloudy weather, the colorful streets and cobblestone roads were beautiful.
Attending the conference allowed me to listen to some interesting presentations, making it a very valuable and productive experience.
